E-Paper
Malls in Ludhiana get tepid response on first day; cinemas, gaming areas remain closed
With heavy security at entry points of malls for screening visitors, passes were also issued at the entry of a few malls for restricting gatherings inside the malls
Malls in the city opened gates for visitors after over two months on Monday, but received a tepid response on the first day. While cinemas and gaming areas remained closed, eateries opened only for take-away as dine-in has not been allowed by the government.
With heavy security at entry points of malls for screening visitors, passes were also being issued at the entry of a few malls for restricting gatherings inside the malls. Visitors were not being allowed to enter the malls till they downloaded the COVA application in their mobile phones.
At the Pavilion Mall, the security staff had kept 150 passes out of which only 97 were issued by afternoon. Similarly, passes were also being issued at the entry of the MBD Mall to keep a check on the number of visitors entering the mall at a given time.
While a few stores were still closed in the malls on the Ferozepur Road, the staff members of other stores said that the situation would come to be normal in the coming days. They said they were already expecting low response on the first day as operations were also allowed till 7pm only.
Gaurav, a staff member of a clothing store in the Wave Mall, said, “We were expecting low response on the first day. But, customers kept on trickling in till the last moment. Business is not the same as the buying capacity of people has also reduced. We are following all the guidelines issued by the government and hope that everything will come to normal soon.”
A visitor to the MBD Neopolis Mall, Gurdeep Singh, said, “My wife wears clothes of a particular brand and we were waiting for the malls to open . However, things have changed and we also restricted any unnecessary movement in the mall.”
Meanwhile, deputy commissioner of police (DCP-headquarters) Akhil Chaudhary also conducted a meeting with representatives of various malls in the city and directed them to follow all the guidelines issued by the government.
MBD NEOPOLIS MALL SECURITY STAFF STAGE PROTEST
Expressing resentment over their salaries not paid for the past three months (March, April, May), the outsourced security staff of the MBD Neopolis Mall staged a protest around 8 am on Monday.
A security guard, requesting anonymity, alleged that there are around 70 security guards working in the mall and they have not been paid salary for the last three months. The outsourcing contractor rued that he has not been paid by the mall management, due to which he has not been able to pay salaries to staff.
The protest was lifted around 10 am after getting the assurance that the salaries would be credited in their accounts soon.
The mall authorities, however, claimed that it was an internal matter of the outsourcing company and the mall management has nothing to do with it as the security staff has been outsourced.
